The AI should be allowed to re-use names

[Panzergraf]

Towards the end of my last campaign, every enemy ship I faced was named things like BB BB127 and CA CA186, and they were all of the <class> class. It becomes hard to differentiate different classes of ships if they're all, from DD to BB, of the <class> class!

Yes, I know there are only a limited number of names in the game, but they could surely be re-used?
So let's say the German AI builds a new battleship. They had a ship named Tirpitz ten years ago, but it sank. So the game runs a quick survey of currently afloat German battlehips. Is Tirpitz one of them? If =no then the name is available for a new ship.

In addition to making it easier to tell different ships apart in game, it adds quite a bit of immersion as well. It's cooler to fight ships with actual names than ships identified by random numbers.

[kjg000]

Simply have the ai add a roman numeral to the name, done!

[Tycondero]

I agree, old names should be repurposed providing the ship with that name is no longer operational. I wouldn't mind if it were just the same name (no need for roman numerals etc). 

[stiller]

I also agree, please let the game re-use names when the original name holder ship is no longer present.